Special programme opens to sell rice at Tk 10 a kg to poor
Officials said special cards would be issued for the poor people who would get 30 kg rice a month for five months — March, April, September, October and November — every year.
The food ministry has already prepared a policy and allocated 5.5 lakh tonnes of rice for smooth operation of the programme from September to November this year and March to April next year.
The PM said five crore people have been graduated to middle-income class from lower-income class, thanks to various pragmatic steps of the present government.
“We have cut the poverty rate to 22 percent from 57 percent in the last seven and a half years and our target is to reduce the rate by at least seven or eight percent by 2021,” she added.
Elaborating her government’s steps for the country’s socioeconomic development, Hasina, also the AL president, said the government has been working tirelessly to change people’s fortune.
She reiterated her pledge to celebrate the golden jubilee of the country’s independence by establishing Bangladesh as a hunger and poverty-free nation by 2021.
“Our ultimate goal is to turn Bangladesh into a hunger and poverty-free prosperous country as dreamt by Bangabandhu…. We have firm belief that the nation would be able to achieve the goal, Insha Allah,” she said.
About launching “Food-Friendly Programme for the Ultra Poor” from Chilmari, the PM said this area was once known as famine-prone. “But the bad name has been cleared due to various steps taken by the government.”
She called upon all, including parents, guardians, and teachers, to stay alert so that none can get involved in terrorism, militancy and drug addiction.
Accusing the BNP-Jamaat of patronising terrorism and militancy, she said a terrible situation was created in the country due to emergence of terrorism and militancy during the misrule of the BNP-Jamaat.
The AL government tackled the social menaces with an iron hand after coming to power in 2009, she added.
The PM said some incidents occurred recently in some parts of the country, and the law enforcement agencies stamped out the culprits by carrying out successful drives.
The government was able to resolve the Gulshan café hostage crisis in just 10 hours through eliminating the militants and rescuing 13 hostages alive.
About the trial of war criminals, Hasina said Bangladesh is being freed from stigma as the government executed killers of the Father of the Nation and is implementing the judgments against war criminals who had killed intellectuals, freedom fighters and tortured women during the Liberation War.
She pointed out her government successes in settling maritime boundary disputes with Myanmar and India peacefully thorough international arbitrations.
The previous governments only remained busy in changing their own fortune instead of developing the country, she added.
Terming the exchange of enclaves with India a historical incident, Hasina said her government took various steps for the development of the former enclave people.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Mashiur Rahman Ranga and State Minister for Social Welfare Nuruzzaman Ahmed spoke at the rally, among others, with Food Minister Qamrul Islam in the chair.
Later, the premier inaugurated the food distribution programme by handing over special cards and rice to 15 people.
Source: The Daily Star
